Abstract This study presents exploratory evidence on energy insecurity, heating and cooling hardships, and related self-reported health impacts among low-income household respondents in Pennsylvania. It responds to community members’ interest in work that concurrently explores resilience to extreme weather events from both an engineering and a non-engineering lens. Insights gathered through the community engagement studio and focus group discussions identified energy insecurity as a viable entry point for examining resilience through a systems-thinking lens. We collected and analyzed survey responses from 1,006 participants living in Pennsylvania and benchmarked key indicators against the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) statewide estimates. Our findings indicate that energy insecurity is a key aspect of resilience to extreme weather events that requires an exploration of a broader set of interacting constraints, including poor building envelope performance, aging or inefficient systems, deferred maintenance, limited repair pathways, and barriers to accessing support. Reducing vulnerability, therefore, requires coordinated action across these multiple factors rather than a single intervention alone. These results point to the need for resilience strategies developed across disciplines and sectors that concurrently address household conditions and program access. Our findings have identified health challenges that can help strengthen the case for pre-disaster investments in partnership with the health sector. We have also generated additional qualitative data through semi-structured interviews of 20 professionals who work closely with low-income communities in areas such as housing, energy access, public health, and community services. The results are currently being validated and will be included in a subsequent publication.
Mirhosseini et al. (2026) studied this question.